Rescue dogs: variety of breeds, training features

Everyone knows that a dog is a friend of man. But not everyone knows that some of them are not just friends, but real rescuers who help people in extreme situations, and even provide first aid. We will talk about these amazing animals in our article.

Dogs have been used since ancient times as rescuers. Thanks to perfect hearing and good scent, they can look for people under avalanches, ruins of destroyed structures, in a burning house and in water. It has been proven that the sense of smell of these animals works even in a smoky room filled with fumes. We can say that the scent of dogs is similar to the sixth sense, since these creatures can recognize the presence of a person even under a thickness of 9 meters of snow.

Dogs have long been recognized as effective search engines that give much better results than humans.

Despite the fact that these days rescue dogs are often in the service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the police and other law enforcement agencies, no one calls them rescuer assistants, since each of them is a completely independent unit, and few of the people for their professional activities manages to save as many lives as four-legged heroes.

The very nature of these animals has unique abilities:

• look for people buried alive at a depth of 10 meters;
• find victims in houses engulfed in flames, when the smell of burning interrupts all human odors;
• search for drowned people and deliver them to the shore;
• inform people about the whereabouts of the victims and bring search engines to them.

According to the stories of volunteers, dogs working in the Moscow region have to save up to 3-4 people a day - these are playful children, and lost mushroom pickers, and simply people with not the best skills in orienteering on the terrain - despite the cellular connection, they are lost regularly.

At the same time, a person who went on a search may pass by a lost person and not even notice him, especially often this happens if the search is delayed, and the victim is exhausted or even fainted. Rescue dogs, thanks to their excellent sense of smell, will even find a victim who has fallen into the thicket and will certainly bring help to him by giving a sound signal to the rescue team.

Of course, not every dog, even the most daring and brave, can become a savior. Quite high requirements are imposed on such animals.

• They must have well-developed senses: smell, hearing and touch.
• It is important that the animal has a bold yet friendly character. A dog should make contact with a person, even with someone he doesn't like - after all, he will have to save a lot of people with a wide variety of characters and temperaments.
• The physical form of the animal, the degree of endurance and the state of health are of fundamental importance - on the way to rescue those in trouble, they will have to overcome many obstacles and obstacles.
• The nervous system of the dog must be stable, since such a dog will have to work very hard, and he must easily withstand the psychological stress.
• It is important that the animal is trained, easily trained and obedient.

Consider several breeds that are best at rescuing people.

• Newfoundland. These dogs are more familiar to breeders under the name diver. Animals are not at all afraid of low temperatures and can actively search even in cold water. Due to the structure of the body and the structure of the coat, divers can easily overcome up to 20 km and dive to a depth of 30 m.

• St. Bernard. These animals are indispensable during search operations in the mountains. Animals of this breed are distinguished by exceptional endurance, they are well trained and have exceptional physical parameters.

• Labrador Retriever. Labrador Retrievers are arguably the friendliest and best-natured dogs in the world, however, they are often found in the ranks of search parties and other rescue teams. They are distinguished by good learning ability, have tremendous patience, endurance and, not least, the ability to express compassion, which is especially important for those people who have to eliminate the consequences of man-made disasters, tsunamis and earthquakes.

• German Shepherd. This animal is widespread in the activities of rescue teams. The fact is that if the shepherd dog senses a person who has fallen into a difficult situation, then neither snow, nor hail, nor frost will stop it on the way to his search and rescue. Shepherd dogs often save the conquerors of mountain peaks, while often at great risk to their own lives.

• Doberman. The perfect police dog. Many law enforcement officers in the United States have such an indispensable assistant in their work, because he easily catches up with intruders and protects the policeman himself from attack. They are smart, loyal and extremely loyal dogs with high physical characteristics. Representatives of this breed of animals often become owners of a wide variety of state awards, and even titles.

• Leonberger. A versatile dog that is trained in a wide variety of skills to participate in rescue operations.These dogs are distinguished by an excellent sense of smell, therefore, most often they become search engines. With proper training, such a dog will become a reliable companion in any extreme situations.

• Drathaar. This is a hunting breed that has been used for a long time to chase game, but people have learned to use its qualities for rescue purposes as well. Today, representatives of this breed most often work in the coast guard: they are distinguished by their ability to swim, they can easily reach a drowning person and pull him ashore.

If you are planning to purchase a puppy for protection and rescue work, then several tests should be carried out to show whether the animal is suitable for such work or not. It is important to check the dog's reaction to a stranger the moment the puppy sees him for the first time.

The experience is quite simple: you need to squat down in front of the dog, then very abruptly get up and go down again, after that make a few loud slaps over the puppy's head. Next, you need to throw an object next to the pet that makes a noise: a rattle, keys or a tin can with peas. You can wave a newspaper over the dog's head.

If the puppy does not start hysterically barking, getting nervous, showing aggression or, conversely, adopting poses of submission, does not make an attempt to run away, but at the same time does not show violent joy - you can read it by those who have successfully passed the test.

Only professional dog handlers should be engaged in teaching animals the basics of helping people in trouble. Depending on the area in which the dogs' abilities will be used, a training program is selected, a set of exercises, tasks and goals is drawn up that the dog will have to strive for. However, in any case, all rescue dogs, without exception, during lessons should be trained in reactions to extreme situations, response skills and first aid.

At the time of training, dogs are taught the following skills:

• search for things;
• human detection;
• sound signal upon detection;
• digging out;
• lifeguard's connection to the detected objects.

During training, they constantly change the location - no more than three classes are allowed on one territory, otherwise the animal will develop a habit of looking only in familiar places. It is important that as the course progresses, the tasks become more complex: for example, they search for objects against the wind, and also create "false digs" when the surface is dug up, but things are not buried.

There are many dogs in the world who have shown real heroism. In particular, during the Great Patriotic War, many animals were not only military search engines - they delivered secret papers, brought cartridges, and even blew up trains where no man could break through. The dogs have established themselves as orderlies on the battlefield: the animals ran around with medical bags and stretchers, helped to pull out wounded soldiers from the very heat.

Especially famous a dog named Mukhtar: on his account there are more than four hundred rescued soldiers who were wounded during the battle, and the total number of soldiers found during the war exceeds 500 thousand!

Dogs rendered invaluable assistance to the former military even after the end of the war - at that time special therapeutic dogs were trained, which healed the souls of soldiers and helped them cope with post-traumatic syndrome. One of the most famous of these dogs is this is a dog named Ricochet. By the way, this retriever also became famous for his studies with children with psycho-emotional problems: he taught them to surf, bringing their health and emotional state back to normal.

And today, many methods of dealing with diseases such as autism involve the use of four-legged pets. There is a special medical direction - dog therapy, it helps to cope with even the most difficult cases. These friendly pets help children to socialize, create the right mood against the background of nervous disorders and mental overload.

No rescue operation in the snowy mountains is complete without dogs. Their help in eliminating the consequences of explosions, natural disasters and terrorist acts, as well as man-made disasters, is indispensable. Their consequences are already great, but without the rescue dogs the losses would have been enormous.

A big celebrity has become a shepherd dog named Ajax. The feat of this animal can be described in numbers: 96 hours of continuous work, bloody and frostbitten paws and 12 lives saved. This dog really fought for the lives of 11 children caught in an avalanche and their teacher in Austria.

A dog named Titou in the Swiss Alps saved his master from death. Risking to die of hunger, the animal searched for its owner for six days on the top of a snowy mountain, dug it out and warmed it with its warmth. All this time, while the man and the dog were waiting for the search group, the climber remained alive only thanks to the efforts of his faithful pet.

It is known that in recent decades there have been quite a few natural disasters that dogs have often warned owners about. So, in Ashgabat, shortly before the earthquake, a dog grabbed a child by the hem of his shirt and carried him out of the house, and a few minutes later the building collapsed.

Became a real legend a dog named Bolt, who, overcoming a snowstorm, was able to deliver a package of medicines to Alaska, thanks to which hundreds of people were saved from diphtheria. Our four-legged friends are real heroes. A considerable number of dogs gave their lives to save humans.

In the next video you will see the release of the "Planet of Dogs" program about rescue dogs.